Res ipsa loquitur ("The thing itself speaks")

Corrections

Unfortunately, I often only have a short time in the early morning each day to post stories on this blog. Given the pressures of classes, litigation, and traveling, I will often miss typos or automatically “corrected” words that are errors. I apologize for those errors, but we have no staff or copy editors on this blog. We welcome any suggested corrections. You can post corrections below. Thanks again for your help and your understanding.

Who’s this “we” you reference here and in the Civility Rule section. Is that the royal “we” or are their actually others (students working for extra credit perhaps) assisting with your pre-dawn, caffeine-fueled (you said it, not me) pieces?

On 11/18/2017, the last paragraph in the ‘skywriting’ article says this:

“It appears however that the pilot is facing what countermeasures or “chaff” for his aerial art.”

There should be commas before and after “however.” The word “what” is useless and misplaced. Merriam-Webster says that one meaning of “chaff” is “material (such as strips of foil or clusters of fine wires) ejected into the air for reflecting radar waves (as for confusing an enemy’s radar detection),” so that can stay.

Here’s how I’d rewrite:

“It appears, however, that the pilot is facing ‘chaff’ for his aerial art.”

In terms of the standard rules of punctuation, you’re correct about the commas before and after “however,” however the current trend is to minimize commas where possible — and omitting the fore and aft commas enclosing “however” doesn’t really inhibit fluid reading of the statement. It’s a choice, not an error.

Professor Turley, we greatly appreciate your public service blog, and the limited time you allocate to it. May I suggest you retain a volunteer intern to help you research and edit it. This person need not be a law student, but should use good grammar and know the WordPress basics.

I once sent you an email expressing my admiration for you. As an arch conservative, GOP and. the rest, I simply want to tell you that we need you. If I sir were the President or the AG then you would be pressed into service. You would be such a wonderful compliment to the DOJ in this time of crisis and need. I don’t know how to make it happen….just pray that it might. Have a great day.

“In this communication age…I am a living being, my life has meaning… Freedom of speech, ring any bells?”

Freedom of speech guarantees we’re free to express our opinions/beliefs without fear of retribution, in the form of arrest and/or imprisonment, by the government for stating them. It does not mean we’re guaranteed to be able to express them in any way, or everywhere, we desire though. There are some notable exceptions to free speech such as making serious threats on someone’s life, damaging someone’s name/reputation via the intentional dissemination of misinformation/lies (slander), or creating panic within the general public. For example, by yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.

This is a privately owned & operated internet site where matters of free speech are determined at the sole discretion of the owner/operator, and those he might delegate with such responsibilities. In other words, we’re not guaranteed anything here.